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Chapter 268
Notice (通知 Tsūchi) is the 268th chapter of manga, Baby Steps. Characters in Order of Appearance *Eiichiro Maruo *Ryuhei Aoi *Sanae Maruo *Natsu Takasaki *Yukichi Fukazawa *Soji Ike *Takuma Egawa *Yu Nabae *Hisashi Kanda *Kazuya Maruo Summary Eiichiro learns that he has the chance to participate in the All-Japan Championship Preliminaries as a wildcard. After settling an agreement with his parents and other matters, he decides to participate in the tournament and intends to go to America for training. Synopsis As Ei-chan takes his leave from Coach Aoi, Ei-chan apologizes for speaking impertinently to him. He gets home and calls Natchan and tells her about his conversation with Coach Aoi. Then he asks her what she'd think if he were to say he's aiming to become a pro. She says she would be happy, but it has nothing to do with what's happening between them because they don't know the best path, but no matter what he chooses, Ei-chan is Ei-chan. She asks him when he has to make a decision about college and he says the middle of the month. She tells him he still has time to think. If he's desperately forcing a decision, it's natural for him to get stumped. He should do what he's been doing up to now: think things over thoroughly without hurrying. She feels that if he does that, the most ideal choice will occur to him spontaneously. Some days later after practice at STC is over, Coach Aoi calls Ei-chan and tells him they'd received communication from the Tennis Association. This year participation will be extended to the Best 4 in the All-Japan Juniors—which mean Ei-chan gets to participate—of course, from the preliminaries. The tournament is in the middle of November, approximately 2 months from now, but Ei-chan has to give his decision on whether he'll participate or not within 3 days, because if he chooses not to participate, they have to get someone else to fill the vacancy. Coach Aoi explains the tournament determines the All-Japan Tennis champion among Japan's top tennis players of the year. Since it gathers the top JOP ranked pros and amateurs, Takuma will be there. And Coach Aoi has heard that the tournament organizers are currently negotiating for the participation of Ike. The other Best 4 (Nabae, Kanda, and Araya) will probably be there as well. Coach Aoi adds that making it through the preliminaries will be intense, so what will Ei-chan do? Ei-chan confirms he has 3 days to give his decision, then rushes home to convince his parents. After their decision, Ei-chan contacts the tennis clubs of the universities that offered him a sports scholarship, then his school's principal. On the third day, Ei-chan (wearing a T-shirt with "staytrue"!) tells Coach Aoi he'll participate in the All-Japan Tennis championship, then he'd like to consider again whether he'll become a pro. Aoi says the universities probably won't wait until November for Ei-chan's decision. But Ei-chan informs him out of the 5 schools, 2 agreed to wait, so he's already declined the offers of the others. Aoi tells Ei-chan he has guts for turning them down already. Eichan's decision on whether he turns pro depends on how far he gets this time. Even though he didn't win the All-Japan Juniors, he couldn't get himself to give up. So he'll think about it realistically and this time base his decision on everything, how far he gets in the the All-Japan championship. Ei-chan adds that before that decision, there are conditions that he'd set with his parents that he has to clear: first, getting results equal to an average pro player at that point in time he has to make it as far as an average pro in the tournament; and second, securing funds to be able work as a pro sponsorship. Aoi says Ei-chan raised the hurdle for himself, and adds that with 2 months there aren't any shortcuts. Eichan says he tried thinking of a way to raise his standard the most in the 2 months. He consulted his school and it seems his standing is high enough that he can graduate even if he takes 60 days off from school; that's why he'd been consulting with various people up to now. He concludes by telling Coach Aoi that he intends to go to America again for the 2 months. Navigation Category:Volume 28 Category:Training at IMG Academy Arc